E&Y: India's biotech industry hits the fast lane

India's biotech industry is small but it's growing fast as vaccines, diagnostics, devices and personalized medicine offer some new opportunities to the sector, according to Ernst & Young's local analysts in the subcontinent. The biotech industry shot up from the $3 billion registered in 2009 to $4 billion last year, but the big accounting firm notes that the large companies had the best records while smaller outfits struggled to find sufficient financing.

"While the biotech industry's aggregate performance improved in 2010, there is now a widening gap between large, established companies and those at earlier stage for whom access to capital continues to be difficult," said Ernst & Young's India partner for the life sciences, Ajit Mahadevan. "The domestic biotech firms will need to adapt creatively to this environment by doing more with the funding that is available and by working from the earliest stages of development to demonstrate the potential value of their products to investors, prayers and regulators."

E&Y went on to note in its Beyond Borders report that while other R&D sectors were struggling, biotech appears poised to continue its big surge, with its improving capabilities feeding further expansion.